Inventory monitoring and control are perennial concerns in retail, manufacturing, shipping, and various other settings. Operating businesses in these fields often entails the placement and removal of items on shelves and fixtures. In the retail sphere, among others, it is in many cases preferable to replenish the stock of certain items as soon as possible after their removal from their location of storage, display, or sale. In almost every instance, it is also desirable to be able to identify product loss, destruction or theft at the time of their occurrence or as close to it as possible.
In order to monitor the amount of and keep track of the placement of various items, conventional product inventory and security systems employ technology such as barcode scanners, radio frequency identification (RFID), electronic article surveillance (EAS), shelf weight scales, and closed circuit television networks. However, due to the inherent drawbacks of such systems, even when properly implemented, theft or loss of product is often not detected until long after the occurrence thereof, usually with such theft or loss not being registered until or even after the attempted extraction of the products from the premises. Furthermore, accurate monitoring of the stock or supply of products continues to demand physical inspection and perusal, as inventory levels or placement of items in storage, sale, or display areas continue to be inspected and verified by employees. This state of affairs allows for considerable product and revenue loss due to pilferage and inadequate product stocking to meet demand or customer interest.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a system and method that can automatically track the location, presence, and/or absence of items in an inventory and electronically relay that information for convenient consumption by the user or operator of the system.